I hope all of you had a fantastic weekend and are rejuvenated for the week ahead. We are back to the grind of yet another workweek and the countdown to the weekend has already begun even as we catch up from the days past. It is both sad and satisfying to see another weekend come and gone and with it took the month of January.

HELLO FEBRUARY! Let’s us greet the month of Love with, well, love. I have a feeling that this month is going to be splendid. It is a couple days into the month and it is already off to a great start. Why do you ask? This is why:

Weekend Recap otherwise known as One Helluva Great Weekend.

Thursday: Now, we all know that the weekend joy usually begins on Friday for me. I get amped for the end of the day and every Friday is a holiday to me. This will never change and my inner child comes out when it is time to lock the doors and head out for the day, but I feel that this past weekend came a day early for me. I feel like the events that took place should be posted for your enjoyment (okay, so it is more for my delight, but humor me). After work on Thursday, Cory and I went out to eat. Now this is rare for us, especially on a weekday, but we were both feeling it. Not only did we want to unwind with a few beers, there was some conversation that needed to be had. Nine beers later (relax, it was a sampler tray and we shared it), we left the restaurant happy and in good spirits (pun definitely intended).

On the way home, there was a random number that kept calling and calling my phone. Now we all are guilty of ignoring phone calls when the number is unrecognized. I didn’t think too much of it because, quite frankly, I was getting just a bit annoyed. Fast forward to later in the evening, they call again. I decided to answer it just to see what they wanted, and behold, it was my sister! This may not seem special to all of you, but this is my sister who is stationed over in the Kingdom of Tonga with the Peace Corps. I rarely ever get to hear her voice. This has been especially hard for me because she was my go to gal when I needed to vent about things or need advice. Two pre-paid phone cards later later (Thanks Ryan!), tears of laughter and of longing were had. Advice was given. And she made my weekend start off with great feelings of joy. Man do I miss her each and every day and just to be able to talk with her was amazing. She makes me so proud to call her my sister and I will forever look up to her. Seriously. She and her husband are both amazing. Take a look at their ventures as they change the world here!

Friday: Must I mention that I now get off work at Noon on Fridays? This in itself is pretty darn great. Even if I had nothing planned, it would still be a great day! Luckily, I did have something planned. When I got off work, I headed home, took a nap (Seriously. Rough life.), packed, and headed out the door to go stay with a friend in the Cities. We ordered Chinese food, drank wine, watched bad television, and had craft time. It was the perfect snowy girls night in. Now, I know that all of you must be wondering what craft we made. Okay, so you may not care, but I will enlighten you anyways. With Valentine’s Day creeping around the corner, I have been looking for cheap but fun ideas to do with your date. I came across a neat idea from a fellow blogger Six Sisters Stuff that involved coloring and coffee. Two things I love and it was cheap, so I figured it was a win all around.

Here's what to do.

Grab 2 plain mugs.

Get out your paint pens (or sharpie if you don't have paint pens lying around).

Keep paper towels handy just in case.

Cover those mugs in your art and writing.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Take them out of the oven.

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Don't mind our Feline Friend that is sniffing the markers. He has an adddiction.

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So, we were both super excited to do this. Not only is it cheap and easy, it was a lot of fun! We spent far too much time on them, but again, it was so fun. I decided to make one for Cory and put the Amery Classic Theatre logo on a mug for him. I was super excited to not only prove to him that I think of him (sometimes), I also wanted him to see that I can draw to. After I gave it to him with a proud (and loud) “look what I can do” moment, he asked me if the sharpie was going to poison him (always the logical thinker). I (again, very proudly) told him that the marker wasn’t going to come off. He still seemed hesitant, so to prove him wrong, I put it in dishwater and started to rub. Much to my dismay, the sharpie did start to come off. Disappointment ensued. I think next time, I will actually try the paint pens, that or just make decorative mugs that you can’t drink out of. (Dang Cory an him always proving me wrong). Anyways, I would still recommend this project but maybe try the paint pens, or baking them longer. Either way, I will try it again and let you all know how it turns out.

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Saturday: It is a known fact that I am an early riser. Sometimes, when spending the night at other places, it can get awkward when I wake up 4 hours before the host does so it made me very happy to know my friend was also an early riser. With some coffee in our systems, we set out to do some retail therapy at the Mall of America and spend money we don’t have on things that we don’t need. Seem practical? Of course not. Did we do it anyways? Of course. We are women. With our wallets feeling lighter, we went our separate ways and headed home. Cory and I had another rare date night planned. He had the evening off for once and I wanted to take him out. We had one of the best evenings we have had in awhile. We headed to Hudson, WI for the Hot Air Affair festival. Now this festival was going on all weekend, but on Saturday evening they had an event called “The Field of Fire.” What this means is that dozens of hot air balloons land on a field and they light them up and you can walk around in the midst of them. I was very excited about this! We got there a little early and because of this, only a couple of balloons were up. Because of the snow that was beginning to fall, they -14 weather, and the fact that I chose fashion over function, we decided to head indoors to check out the food vendors and craft fair (and to get warm). Now, we were only in there for about 15 minutes, but this being our first time there, we didn’t know that the hot air balloons only stayed up for 15 minutes. This being said, when we walked back outside, all of the balloons were already coming down. Sadly, we missed the main event, but we still got to see a couple of them up and walk around. Next year, we will know to suck it up and brave the cold. I was still glad we went and it was neat to see the few balloons that we did see and the snow that was falling looked like glitter. It was still a spectacle!

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The pretty glitter snow turned into sharp stinging snow. It was about that time we headed back to the car.

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After that, we shed some layers (by which I mean gloves and sweatshirts because we dressed warm) and went out to eat. We actually bought a bottle of wine (which we never do) and had ourselves a splendid evening out (plus, it helped warm us up quickly). It was delightful from start to finish and it was just nice to have an actual date night.

Sunday: I slept in, cleaned the house, ate too much food, and watched the Super Bowl with some great people! It was a great end to a great weekend. Not only that, I have a short week at work this week. I am taking a mini vacation and going home to spend some time with my family and hopefully welcome a new nephew into the world. Exciting times are ahead and I can’t wait.